


Catherine Rollins, Matchmaker

by raiining



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-02
Updated: 2011-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raiining/pseuds/raiining
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Catherine figures out a few things, and decides to do something about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catherine Rollins, Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this months ago in response to a challenge someone (??? no clue anymore who) posted about making a Mary Sue fic awesome. In Hawaii Five-0 I want to like Catherine more than I actually do, so I wrote this to fall in love with her a little. Found it on my hard drive and realized I never posted it. Not beta'd.

 

Catherine loved being a woman.

Really. She loved shaving her legs, and keeping a black dress in her closet, and having the choice between cocktails and beer on leave.

But some days? Having a vagina _sucked_.

 

"I need drugs," she mumbled to herself in bed, eyes still closed and not yet ready to face the world. "Really really good drugs."

"Aspirin, tylenol or morphine?"

She blinked into Steve's concerned face and winced. Then winced again when the softness of the mattress and the warm sun spilling into the room finally registered beyond the cramping of her uterus.

"Oh shit," she mumbled, then "'Morning?"

Steve patted her shoulder in a manner than was obviously supposed to be comforting and totally, completely wasn't. "I should have known something was up when I found you passed out in here last night. What time did you get in?"

Catherine groaned and tried to sit up, but Steve waved her down before backing away and disappearing, hopefully angling off towards the bathroom. "Umm, around eleven-ish?" She called after him. "I got my leave and came straight over." She could hear the tap running in the bathroom and oh thank god. "I'll take motrin if you have it."

"Sure." His voice drifted over and Catherine turned to peer outside before looking down at the clock beside the bed. Nine thirty. She winced.

"And I slept in. Never a good sign."

Steve appeared in the doorway with a glass and a two pills in his hand. With a heartfelt thanks she took the gelcaps and shot them back like tequila, then downed half the glass of water. She fell back onto the mattress with a groan and Steve settled beside her on the bed.

She felt bloated and sore and gross and it was an act of will not to pull the comforter up over her head and go back to sleep. "'M sorry. Just ... give me a minute and I'll get my stuff together and head back to base. I won't be any fun like this."

Steve gave her a disappointed look. "Catherine, come on. I've seen you beaten and bloody and laughing for more. If this ..." he waved a hand at her, cheeks reddening slightly, " ... is knocking you down this much, you probably shouldn't even move."

Catherine tried to smile but the effort made her think violent thoughts. She shook her head instead.

"No, its just ... every couple of months, even with the birth control pills, I get one that really knocks it out of me." She frowned. "It's a different kind of pain, dull and energy sucking and not – not fun like bootcamp pain." She poked a finger at Steve. "Men will never understand. Never ever."

Steve, the bastard, grinned. "Nope. But anyway – you have three days off, so you're taking three days off. Now: do you want breakfast or should I go get masalas's?"

She eyed him warrily. "You are an evil, evil man. But masalas's. And no comments, mister."

He mimed zipping his lips shut and gave her another grin before leaving.

 

 

She lounged in bed for a few long minutes after he had gone, making love to Steve's mattress and wondering again if he had changed it after his dad died. She kept meaning to ask him and never quite did. But eventually she levered herself out of bed and started running a bath.

She heard the front door open just as she was lowering herself into the tub. There was the sound of keys hitting a counter, then the rustle of a paper bag and Steve laughing "Yes, yeah do you – okay, okay, give me a sec," into his cellphone before snapping it closed.

She lay back in the tub with a sigh of bliss and cracked an eyelid open at Steve as his voice stopped in the bathroom doorway. "Not the Governor?"

He rolled his eyes a litle and there was a fond smile hovering around the outside of his lips. "Danny. Apparently he refuses to do my paperwork anymore." He frowned for a moment. "He sounded kind of stressed, actually, I think Rachel is giving him a hard time again or something."

She raised a hand out of the bath and waved it imperiously towards the door while leaning back in the tub, "Go, go and rescue. I'll just wallow in here for a while."

She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, but she could still see Steve biting his lip. "You're sure?" He was almost dancing from foot to foot, she just knew it.

She had been meaning to ask him about this, this question of what was going on between him and the partner he couldn't stop talking about. But she was sore and crampy and warm, blessedly warm and Steve was not a welcome presence at the moment.

"Right now I only want you for your bath," she confessed without making any effort to move. "Just make sure you bring Danny and a few beers back tonight. I want to meet this new man in your life. I'll be fine by four or so."

Steve hesitated a moment, which was weird. "If you're sure, Cath."

She cracked another eyelid. "Yes, yes I'm sure. Go."

He dropped the bag of masalas's on the floor within reach of the tub before ducking back out again. "Okay, I'll see you later."

She heard the front door close as she dragged the bag closer and, god, Steve truly was evil because he had gotten her _two_.

 

 

Sure enough by three thirty Catherine was up and showered and feeling marginally human. She was debating between her skinny awesome Jeans of Sex or her really comfy Navy shorts. The bloating and blah feeling only increased when she shimmied into the Jeans of Sex and, after all, Danny was coming over. She had met him before but it had always been a quick and hurried hello and ... she wasn't sure, but something about him had always felt off. He seemed nice and shook her hand and looked her in the eye and thanked her "for pulling our collective asses out of the fire, no really" but ... Maybe it was how he seemed to let go of her hand a little quickly, or the way he glanced at Steve after she turned away. Sort of ... unhappy like.

Danny was one of the most important people in Steve's new life here in Five-0 and she flattered herself into thinking she was one of the most important from his old life in the SEALS. She wanted Danny to like her. So she put on the shorts and a comfortable but still decently nice string-shirt with a tee over top and decided she looked less like threatening and more like someone's kid sister.

Okay scratch that, she had met Steve's kid sister and maybe threatening would be the way to go with this crew. But it was too late, she was putting on her tags and hoping Steve remembered to stop for steaks when she heard a car pull into the driveway.

Steve and Danny were arguing in that good natured way Catherine had gotten used to hearing from Steve's side of the phone and yeah, she was smiling when Danny stopped and stared at her after walking in the house because hey. It was cute. But then Danny raised his hands and backed away towards the door and see, there it was again. A tightening around his eyes.

"Hey, sorry man, you should have said you had company. I'll just - "

But Steve was turning to him, confused and okay, obviously he wasn't seeing the way Danny was going all defensive here like Catherine was.

"You'll just what? Go back to your crappy little appartment and eat take out? Come on Danno – I bought steaks and beer. Yeah Chin and Kono couldn't make it, but that means we'll have extras."

He was hesitating, almost on the balls of his feet, but apparently Danny Williams couldn't resist Steve McGarrett any more than she could because he was saying "Yeah, yeah okay," and stepping back into the room. Catherine felt herself getting angry as Danny dropped his arms and held his hand out for a beer like he needed alcohol to be in the same room as her. Men usually liked her. Hell, it was usually women she had problems with, never with guys.

Steve obliged him by popping a cap and handing it over, then getting another for Catherine.

"Why don't you guys head out to the beach and I'll get dinner ready?" Steve offered. Danny waved him towards the kitchen and tipped his beer back, heading out toward the sunset. Catherine stood by the door for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on and failing. Steve had already dismissed them both and was paying more attention to the steaks he was pulling from a brown paper bag then to either of them, so she turned around to follow Danny outside.

She reached him where he stood by the water and they paused that way for a moment, looking out towards the ocean. She could feel her anger building though, and while she knew she was always a little more prone to irrational snapping when she had a morning like today, she felt justified in her feelings.

"So, do I look like your ex-wife or something?"

Danny stiffened and turned towards her and okay, so maybe she had meant to sound more casual than bitchy.

"I mean," she licked her lips and tried to find the words to appologize and explain without actually having to do either. "You're one of Steve's best new friends, and I've known him for almost ten years now and," she shrugged, "I'm not saying we have to be buddies or anything but I'd like to get to know you better. Only that's a little hard to do when you keep trying to run away whenever I'm around."

Danny's face had scrunched up while she was talking, like he was physically beating back the words trying to crowd out of his mouth, but he deflated a little when she finished. Turning back to the water he ran the hand that wasn't holding his beer through his hair and rubbed a little at his eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry Ms – Catherine," he ammended, "It's just ... I don't know its just - "

And Catherine was watching him, really watching the way his shoulder's twitched and his eyebrow's hunched and so when Danny's eyes darted around hers to look back to the house where Steve was preparing steaks, she didn't miss it.

And she didn't miss the way his hand tightened around the beer bottle or the little crease that appeared in the centre of his forehead either.

And it still took her a minute, because yeah Steve's been talking nonstop about this guy for months now and she's been getting the blow-by-blow accounts of their cases every time she comes to visit and she kind of feels as if she _knows_ Danny Williams, knows him as well as Steve does from all she's heard about him only holy shit. Holy shit. Maybe she doesn't know him _at all_.

"Fuck me," she breathed, only shit – that was the problem, wasn't it?

She still half expected Danny to turn away and laugh and say something about his ex-wife Rachel and knock the whole thing off, only Danny's shoulder's twitched a little more and his eyes darted to hers and there was a hint of anger in his voice when he said "What?"

And shit. Shit fuck shit. Because Catherine was a hopeless romantic and carted her bruised and battered copy of _The Princess Bride_ with her to all her postings and this was only going to end in heartbreak because Steve ...

Because Steve ...

Well, Steve did talk about Danny nonstop. And the only way to shut him up was basically with sex which hey, had always been good for her, and Steve liked sex with girls, she knew he liked sex with girls, and he was good at it too. He was attentive and considerate and if they lacked a certain kind of chemistry, well Catherine had always assumed that was because as good friends as they were they weren't either of them in love. It was sex of convience and friendship and when they had gotten back together here in Hawaii it had been pretty much the same as always.

Hadn't it?

Or did Steve seem looser, happier, than when she had last seen him last in Italy? Wasn't he quicker to smile, faster to laugh, more like the kid he was ten years ago – out of basic training and fresh and wild with the world? She had thought it was being here, being home.

But maybe it was something more.

She didn't know. And she wanted to know. Because now Danny Williams was glaring at her and she wanted to say 'I'm sorry for sleeping with the guy you have a crush on' only that would probably go over about as well as it had back in highschool.

So she bit her lip and looked back out to sea and debated putting away the beer and pulling out the tequila. "I'm sorry."

"Jesus Christ," Danny shook his head and the glare was replaced with a tight little smile – hard and angry, but more self directed now. "It's not your fault, I'm the idiot here."

She tipped her head back towards the house, "You ever ...?"

Danny's eyes widened comically, "Oh please. Steven? Talking about _feelings_? It's like pulling teeth every time I've ever tried, and believe me, I've tried."

"Tried what?" Steve called from the veranda, a beer warming in his hands as he walked out towards them.

Catherine found herself blanking which was completely and totally nothing like her only, shit shit shit; but Danny just rolled his eyes and called back, "Tried convincing myself you were a human being and not an army trained robot sent here to destroy my life and get me _shot_."

"It's the Navy, Danny, come on. And I got you shot one time. One time, Danny."

"And you will never, ever hear the end of it, my friend." Danny grinned, tipping back his bottle.

"That, I know." Steve agreed, also smiling.

And Catherine watched the two of them and blinked because – holy shit, this could work. These two could really work, they already did work and oh _fuck_.  Making an excuse for herself Catherine headed back to the house and went to the bathroom to take a moment, change her tampon and give herself a second to think.

Steve had always had guy friends. Good guy friends that he hung out with and went for beers with, like Nick Taylor and James Swan. She and Melissa and Sadiya had gone with them more than once, and Catherine had seen Steve hitting on girls like the rest of the guys. He never behaved anything like her brother, but then David had been out since he was fifteen and they usually spent the first twenty minutes dividing up the bar population when out hopping together. If either struck out they high-fived and switched.

But of course Steve would never have been allowed to do that, would have been forced to look only at the girls and avoid catching the eye of a guy he could take home for the night. But had she ever actually seen him looking? Had he ever given her any indication that might want that, might want someone leaner and firmer than her or any other girl?

She didn't think so, but then again – she had never had a reason to look before. And it had been years ago, now, since they had done anything like that together. Before Steve started globe trotting on secret assignments and developing an obsession over Irishmen.

She finished up in the bathroom and took her time walking outside, stopping to get three new beers from the fridge and peering out towards the beach through the window. Steve and Danny were standing close together and Steve was grinning, that happy fond smile he had been wearing for weeks now whenever he talked about Danny and okay – that she had noticed.

But he was still standing straight, not leaning forward subtly or reaching out to touch Danny's elbow or anything, and she just.couldn't.tell.

So she called out that the steaks were done marinating and Steve threw them on the barbeque for approximately a millisecond each and they ate in reasonable comfort. Danny had gotten a little more relaxed around her, and was smiling and making conversation and Catherine tried to play her part by telling stories about basic training and that time she caught Steve wrestling with the goat. But she was distracted all night, watching Steve look at Danny and tring to figure out if his eyes tracked Danny's throat when he tipped back his beer.

It was a damn fine looking throat, in fact Danny Williams was a very pretty man, and really – Steve would have to be an idiot not to see the fond looks Danny kept shooting him only ... despite the smiling and the very occaisonal casual touches, she couldn't see any direct signs of flirting. There were none of Steve's patented direct looks or made up reasons for facial touching. They acted ... well more like her and Steve, actually. Comfortable and familiar in each other's space . And their bickering might have been flirtatious if it hadn't been so Old Married Couple.

And maybe that was a sign right there, but if it was she wasn't sure Steve was seeing it.

When the steaks were long gone and they were finishing the dregs of their beers Catherine weighed the pro's and con's of busting out the hard liquour. Steve got pretty handsy if you got enough alcohol in him, but then again she didn't want to force Danny's affections on him. She'd seen a few guys freak out over being hit on by a guy when out clubbing with her brother and despite the smile he would inevitable paste on she knew it hurt him to be treated with such distain. It was more than simple rejection, David had told her once, mopey and drunk and pissed after some guy had actually tried to _hit him_ once he caught on David was flirting with him, it was a devaluation of all that you were.

Catherine loved her little brother, and when she had run into the guy two days later at a different bar she had walked up to him and punched him out in front of all his friends for calling her brother a freak. She never told David, but thought he might have figured it out anyway.

She wouldn't put Danny through that, not for anything. So when he stood to say his goodbyes she smiled and let him go without breaking out the tequila. But the slightly pinched look he got just as he left made her feel uncomfortable again.

Steve walked Danny out to the car he apparently drove them both over in after leaving his at Five-0 Headquarters, then came back to the table. She helped him stack the dishes beside the sink and promised him they'd do them first thing in the morning. Steve kept glancing at the mess with a silent pain that whined louder than any protest, but she ganged up on him with feminine wiles.

"I still feel kind of uncomfortable. But I've got good intel that says a foot massage would be just the thing."

"And once again you prove you only want me for my skills," Steve smiled, but led her off to the bedroom. They changed into pijamas and it felt very domestic as they settled in the bedroom, Steve at the end of the bed with her feet in his hands.

She let him work for several minutes, not hiding the groans of pleasure he wrung out of her feet, letting the lingering clenches from her gut fade. Then she feigned a slightly more relaxed tone than she felt and said casually, "So you'll have to keep introducing me to all these hot men you're meeting on the island."

Steve paused for a moment at her feet and looked up at her. Then he laughed. "I don't think Danny's really your type, Cath."

She quirked an eyebrow at him but stayed relaxed against the pillows. "Oh? Why not?'

He shrugged and got back to work on her feet. "Well, yes, he's quick and funny, and he's an honourable cop, not a jackass or anything, but -"

She smiled, "Sounds pretty all-around perfect to me."

Steve hestitated over her feet again, "But he's got a daughter Cath. I don't think he's up for something casual right now."

She gave an elaborate shrug, "He just got out of a long term relationship," she pointed out, "he might be looking for something a little more casual."

Steve made a face. "Come on Cath ... it would be weird. Very weird. Like my brother and my sister dating and – oh god," he blanched, "I never want to have that mental image again."

Catherine stared at him. "Your mind just connected me as your sister and us having sex, to you and your sister having sex, didn't it?" When Steve made a disgusted face and nodded she groaned and sat up on the bed, "Oh god – no. Okay. I do not think of you as my brother, okay? You're like ... that really good hot friend I have sex with."

Steve was nodding, "Exactly."

She shrugged again, "And Danny Williams could be that other really hot guy I have sex with."

Steve made another face. "No seriously – stop."

She laughed, "Okay – if it makes you uncomfortable, I won't attempt to jump his bones, all right?"

"Okay," he said, "Thanks."

"But you've got to admit that he's very pretty."

Steve was rolling his eyes, "Okay yes, I guess he could be considered pretty. But if you ever tell him I said that I will finish the thing we started on March 28th 2005 okay?"

"Okay, okay" she laughed, holding up her hands and flopping back against the pillows, "You win. I won't tell Danny you think he's pretty. "

But she was counting it as a win.

 

 

They fell asleep that night fully clothed and comfortable together and Catherine woke with a plan of attack. The first part of her plan had already been accomplished: get Steve to admit that Danny was superficially and emotionally attractive. The second part would be more difficult: she had to learn if – and, if he did, get him to admit – that he found Danny Williams _personally_ attractive.

That she had no idea how to do.

Fortunately, Hawaii did.

They were up and having breakfast, the dishes from the night before clean and put away in their proper place, when Steve's cell phone rang. She could hear Chin over the thin speaker saying something about a gang bust by the HPD. Some gang member tried to get his sentence reduced by giving away information about a gun lord visiting the island this weekend. Danny picked Steve up and she watched Steve argue his way into the driver's seat from the kitchen doorway with a coffee in her hand. She spent the morning on the beach and was just making a sandwich for lunch when Steve called her to ask for a favour.

For once it wasn't sneaking him sensative satellite imagry that could get her courtmartialed but rather an opportunity to put her long dusty intrusive skills to work. Apparently the gun lord was appearing at a party where Kono would be recognized, as the host was apparently heavy into competitive surfing and had personally met all previous candidates from the island. Steve knew this guy from his days spent hunting the Hesse brothers and would also be recognized on sight. Chin was ex-HPD so he was out, and that left only Danny who wouldn't be spotted.

And her.

She said yes in a heart beat, of course she did, because it had been ages since she'd done any of this stuff and she loved her job but she missed the ground level intelligence work. Plus she finally got to meet Chin and Kono and was introduced to Hawaii Five-0 headquarters. She felt like a real part of the team when they got her suited up in the slinky black dress Kono loaned her.

That was, until she and Danny had been cornered by the bar and needed a diversion for thirty seconds so the gun lord wouldn't notice them sitting around recording the intensely private and definitely case-making conversation he was having via cellphone.

Danny and her had been doing good all night, too. He had relaxed around her again, seemingly comfortable after realizing she wouldn't go blabbing away to Steve, and they had worked well together. But now they had radio and video surveillence trained on them and the guy they were sitting next to and they needed a distraction.

So Catherine leaned in to where Danny was sitting at the bar and nestled up between his legs and reached up to pull him down into a semi-drunken-seeming kiss that would hopefully make the gun lord forget they were within listening range of his conversation.

It worked, too. The kiss was nice, nothing spectular – it wasn't as if they were actually trying or anything – but it was obviously enough to pass inspection. Because the drug lord finished his self incrimination and Chin gave them the thumbs up over the radio, and they walked back to the surveillence van in high spirits.

She had actually forgotten about the kiss until Steve refused to meet her eyes and gave Danny only the briefest of cuff's on the back for a job well done and generally acted like he was really, suddenly uncomfortable around both of them.

It lasted until they had called HPD to drop off the tapes and finished the minimum paperwork that Danny insisted had to be done _right now_ for the case not to get dropped in court and were heading back to Steve's place in his car. By then the not-touching and not-looking had gotten pretty obvious and Danny's rising insistence over forms might have been directly related to the tension Steve was suddenly putting off.

"What?" She demanded when they were safely on the highway and she was sure Steve wasn't going to drive them over a cliff due to distracted driving.

Steve feigned innocence. "What, what?"

"Don't make me murder you," Catherine warned, "What is with the silent treatment and the sad faces? You're acting like I stepped on your puppy."

Steve peered at her, which was at least eye contact. "I don't have a puppy."

She threw up her hands, feeling like she had spent too much time with Danny Williams tonight and was feeling histrionic. "Well I would think from your face that you had! And that I had stepped on it!"

He finally sighed and let a few mile markers go before turning off onto the side street that led to the beach house. "It's nothing." He winced from the force of her glare. "Okay! It's just ... okay, the kiss made me a little uncomfortable."

She decided to go with the strategy of No Mercy because he had pissed her off. "What kiss?"

"The kiss!" He did a hand-waving thing between her and the invisible Danny Williams. "The kiss in the bar, that kiss! It bothered me, okay?"

She let him stew on that for a moment while he took a second right and came upon the driveway. "Are you bothered because I did the kissing, or because Danny returned it, or because it happened at all?" she asked as he pulled in.

Steve put the car into park but left it on with the air conditioner running. He rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't know – the, the fact that it happened at all, I guess. Or the fact that Danny ... that he ..." He sighed. "Look I know it doesn't make any sense, okay?"

She put up a hand. "Whoa whoa whoa. I didn't say that. It could make total sense. It would not make sense if you were jealous because I was kissing Danny, but it just might make sense if you were jealous because Danny was kissing me."

Steve peered at her again, "That's intelligence logic, and it is nonlogical."

She rolled her eyes, "Which was it, Steve? Because it would be crazy to be upset because I was kissing another guy. I kiss a lot of guys."

He rubbed his face again. "I know, I know. And I never felt this way about Kyle or Brian or anything ..." he sighed, "Okay, I guess it was the fact that it was Danny. Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

She smiled, "Yes, actually." He frowned and turned off the car, then opened his door and got out.

She climbed out and hurried after him. "What? Why is that a problem?"

Steve spun around to face her. "Because it's Danny, okay? Because he's my partner, not to mention a guy, and it's a little weird okay?"

She stood straight and blinked at him. "It's not weird at all. You're not about to tell me your homophobic are you? Because you spent that entire weekend with my brother in New York and ..."

"No! I'm not homophobic or anything. Jesus. But come on, Cath. You have to admit that its weird, okay? It's weird that we are talking about this, and its weird that I _can_ talk about this, and ..."

Ahhh. She stepped closer and put a hand on Steve's arm, feeling the way he was practically vibrating with tension. His eyes were darting from side to side and to the roof of his house, and she had to puff out a small laugh.

"Helicopters aren't about to arrive and cart you off to a courtmartial, Steve. DADT is over, or as good as. David's got this big party planned for when the final signature goes down, says he'll find me a pretty little blonde thing to spend the night with. The Navy can't tell you who you can and can't sleep with anymore."

"Jesus," Steve let his head loll forward, then slumped and rested his back against the side of the house, the weight of fifteen years falling on his shoulders.

When he peered up at her there was something small and broken in his eyes.

"It's not that easy Cath, okay?"

"Okay," she told him, pulling him forward into a hug. "Okay."

 

 

Catherine woke from another night of comfort and no sex without a single shred of an idea how to fix this.  The first and second parts of her plan had gone spectacularly well for once, but part three – the part where they actually got to the kissing – evaded her. Steve spent the morning fumbling around the house, tracking sand in from the beach without getting out the broom and thus proclaiming to the world how utterly lost he felt. Catherine watched him, took the broom from the hallway closet when the sheer amount of sand was enough to build a reasonably sized castle with, and continually tried, and failed, to decide what to do next.

She kept getting half way to the phone to call Danny and tell him to come over and bring shooters, then backing away when she convinced herself htat maybe Steve needed to think his way through this one before she poured his one true love into his lap. Fortuantely in the end Kono and Chin decided for her, showing up at noon with burgers, beer and Danny Williams.

They knocked a few times before coming in, and the way Kono grinned at her gave away what they guessed they might have been doing, but Catherine winced and patted her belly and Kono gave her a womanly groan of shared comfort. Chin headed straight towards the barbeque and started heating the coal for meat and Catherine brought the beer to the fridge.

She was stepping back from the refrigerator when Danny came back in from the veranda wondering outloud. "Where's Steve?"

'Having a sexual identity crisis sixteen years after the fact' was on the tip of her lips, but Catherine forced herself to shrug before pointing down the road. Steve had spent the morning in and out of water doing forty mile swims and had finally decided to hit the pavement with his sneakers. Danny rolled his eyes but took his car keys from his pocket.

When Chin looked over at him and quirked an eyebrow, Spock-like, Danny groused. "It's like 104 degrees outside and its noon. He's going to get heat stroke and die and then I would have to eat his burger and that would –" he stopped and eyed Chin, "- actually I know where you bought those burgers and they might be one of the few things on this island I can stand, but regardless, someone should rescue our waylaid boss before he passes out on the pavement."

Chin just grinned and turned back to his meat but Danny nodded like that meant Chin agreed with him, which hey – maybe it did. Kono rescued her surfboard from the roof of her car and Catherine followed her out to the beach while Danny ducked into the driver's seat of his car and took off down the direction Catherine had pointed.

She sort of lost track of time after that, watching Kono ride the waves and wondering how she could make such a terrible sport look easy – the biathlon made so much more sense that surfing, no matter what anybody said – and drinking down the endless beers Chin supplied her with. They got to chatting about his days on HPD working with the coast guard and Catherine shared the unglamerous tales of life on an aircraft carrier. It must have been over an hour later before the slamming of a car door announced the reentry of Danny and Steve. Catherine peaked over her shoulder to look into the house windows as they practically flew up the stairs, Steve still in his running shorts and Navy tee, and Danny in his rolled up sleeves and pants. But they were breathing hard and she could see the first two buttons of Danny's shirt had been opened and she couldn't help but grin as she settled back down on her lawn chair and turned towards Chin.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

He was watching her, that zen expression on his face, and Catherine had to force the blood away from her face because it had been seven years she since had blushed and she wasn't about to break her streak now.

"So ... you're okay with this?" Chin asked her with Obi Wan Kenobi-like calm and Catherine had to blink at him because come on, the guy hadn't even turned around to look or anything.

"Um, okay with ...?"

But sure enough Chin inclined his head towards the house where from the corner of her eye she could see Steve had pulled the blinds in the master bedroom. "This."

She smiled, "Yes," she said in total sincerity. "I am. Despite what anyone might think, Steve and I are friends first, and everything else second. And I really think this is going to be something good for him."

Chin's face broke into a smile in front of her, an actual happy smile that said more about this team that anything else they had said or done together in the past twenty-four hours.

"I think it already is. And maybe, if we're all lucky, it's only going to get better."

Catherine raised her beer, and when Chin echoed her she clinked them together. Then they turned and watched Kono flip heads over heels over a wave, and when she popped to the surface laughing, they both laughed with her.

 

 

The end.


End file.
